Katherine Ryan Named AUS Volleyball Rookie of the Year

February 12, 2009 (HALIFAX, NS) - Atlantic University Sport is pleased to announce the 2008-09 women's volleyball major award winners as selected by the Atlantic conference head coaches.

Second year outside hitter Kerri Smit (Shubenacadie, NS) of the Saint Mary's Huskies has been named the Atlantic University Sport Most Valuable Player.

Smit, last season's AUS Rookie of the Year and a member of the CIS all-rookie team, led the conference in scoring (5.48 points per game) and kills (4.71 per game). Kerri appeared in all 72 games for the Huskies this season and also finished third in the league in aces with 29 (0.40 per game) and ranked fifth in hitting percentage (0.292).

Smit, who was named a first team all-star earlier this week, will look to become the first Atlantic conference player to be named CIS Player of the Year since 1981-82, when Dalhousie's Karen Massen won the award. Kerri is the first Saint Mary's player to be named league MVP since 2001-02 when Caroline MacFarlane won the award.

The 2008-09 Rookie of the Year is Katherine Ryan of the StFX X-Women. A native of Halifax, NS, Ryan had an outstanding freshman season with the X-Women, leading the squad in kills (4.36 per game - 2nd in AUS), scoring (4.76 ppg - 2nd in AUS) and hitting percentage (0.208 - 12th in AUS).

The only other StFX player to win this award was Carla George following the 1996-97 season. No Atlantic conference player has ever won the Mark Tennant Award as the CIS Rookie of the Year.

Jolanie Gallant (Richibucto, NB) is the 2008-09 Libero of the Year. Gallant, in her third year of eligibility with the first-place Université de Moncton Aigles Bleues, finished second in the Atlantic conference in digs this season, averaging 4.03 per game.

No Atlantic conference player has yet been recognized as the CIS Libero of the Year. Former UdeM player Anne Lavigne was the Atlantic University Sport Libero of the Year in 2001-02 and is the only other Moncton player to receive the conference award.

For the second consecutive season the Atlantic conference women's volleyball Coach of the Year is Université de Moncton Aigles Bleues head coach Monette Boudreau-Carroll. This marks the fifth time in her career that Boudreau-Carroll has been selected by her peers as the conference's top coach and last season she was the first AUS coach to ever be named the CIS Coach of the Year.

She previously took home the award in 2007-08, 2001-02, 1998-99 and 1995-96. This year, she guided the Aigles Bleues to a 15-5 regular season record, a first place finish and a first round bye at this weekend's Atlantic University Sport championship at Acadia. Three of her players were named AUS all-stars earlier this week and her Moncton squad defeated every team in the conference at least once this season, with their only loss coming at the hands of UNB. Their other four defeats were to QSSF opponents in interlock play.

The Atlantic University Sport Student-Athlete and Community Service Award winner and nominee for the CIS Thérèse Quigley Award is once again Kristine Levesque from the Université de Moncton. Levesque, a fifth year middle blocker from Grand-Sault, NB, was the 2006-07 Atlantic University Sport Player of the Year, is a four-time conference all-star and was the recipient of this award last season.

This award is presented annually to the player who best represents the balance between athletics, academics and community service. On the court, Kristine's athletic performances speak for themselves. Statistically, she led the conference in hitting percentage and finished in the top 10 in the league in scoring, kills and blocks. Levesque is a four-time CIS academic all-Canadian and has been on the Dean's List at the Université de Moncton in each of her four previous years of study. She has also been a past nominee for the James Bayer Memorial Scholarship awarded annually by Atlantic University Sport.

Kristine has done volunteer work at the Georges-Dumont Hospital in Moncton and also gives her time as an assistant coach with local volleyball mini-clinics, with the Volleyball New Brunswick March break camps and is involved with the Junior Club Program within the UdeM athletic department, encouraging students to pursue university studies and also play university sports. She also participates on the organizing committee's for local high school volleyball tournaments in the Moncton area as well as with the Volleyball Pepsi Challenge tournament for kids 14-and-under.

The 2009 Subway Atlantic University Sport women's volleyball championship is being held this weekend at Acadia University in Wolfville, NS. For more information on the 2009 championship, visit the event website at http://www.acadiaathletics.ca/volleyball_championship.

Two Atlantic University Sport teams (Atlantic champions and UNB as host) will advance to the 2009 CIS Women's Volleyball Championship, Feb. 26th-28th, hosted by the University of New Brunswick. If UNB wins the Atlantic University Sport championship, the runner-up will advance as the second representative from the Atlantic conference.

The 2009 Subway Atlantic University Sport women's volleyball championship schedule is as follows:

Friday, February 13th
- Quarter-final #1: Saint Mary's (3rd) vs. Acadia (6th), 6:00pm
- Quarter-final #2: Cape Breton (4th) vs. StFX (5th), 8:00pm

Saturday, February 14th
- Semi-final #1: Moncton (1st) vs. Lowest Remaining Seed, 4:30pm
- Semi-final #2: UNB (2nd) vs. Highest Remaining Seed, 7:00pm

Sunday, February 15th
- Championship Game: Semi-final Winners, 2:00pm

Courtesy of Atlantic University Sport